Monday, February 14, 2005
 Annan: Resignation ‘not on the cards’
 
LONDON: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan insisted in an interview broadcast on Sunday that his resignation was not “on the cards” despite an escalating scandal over the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq. 
“Resignation is not on the cards for me at the moment,” Annan told the BBC in an interview filmed during a trip to London earlier in the week. 
The final conclusion of an ongoing investigation into the oil-for-food scheme would help the public to understand its complexities, the UN chief said. 
From 1996 to 2003, the P64-billion program was intended to help Iraqis cope with international sanctions imposed over Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, which sparked the 1990-1991 Gulf War. 
But Annan admitted that concessions had been made owing to the difficulties in ensuring the cooperation of the toppled regime. 
“Saddam had resisted the scheme for several years and there was concern that if something was not done then the Iraqi population will starve and some of these concessions were the price they had to pay to get the scheme off the ground,” he told the BBC’s Breakfast with Frost show. 
“In retrospect one may criticize it but at the time because of the urgency and the needs of the Iraqi people some concessions were made.” 
At the same time, Annan said the bulk of the problems uncovered were due to oil smuggling, which the UN had nothing to do with, but he reiterated a pledge to lift the diplomatic immunity of any UN official fingered in the affair. 
The oil-for-food inquiry found earlier this month that it had suffered from lax UN controls. An interim report said that Benon Sevan, who headed the UN program, obtained allocations of oil from Saddam Hussein’s regime. 
Turning to the United Nations’ work on the ground in Iraq, Annan dismissed the idea of taking over the role of the US-led military forces in the country. 
Instead, the world body, which has withdrawn most of its staff from the country after becoming the target of suicide attacks, hoped to help more with the reconstruction efforts—security permitting, he said. 
“At this stage I do not see UN peacekeepers replacing the US and the UK troops on the ground,” Annan said. 
“But, circumstances permitting, there is much more the UN can do and we would want to fulfill our mandate fully,” he said. 
“If the circumstances are right—I am referring to security—we should be able to help with institution building, judiciary, we should be able to help with training up some of the people in the ministries, we should be able to help with recovery and aspects of reconstruction.” 
As for peace across the Middle East, Annan reiterated his pleasure about a cease-fire pledge on Tuesday by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, and hoped for further progress.http://www.manilatimes.net/images2/etc/dot.gif \* MERGEFORMATINET
--AFP